1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control microcomputer verification device and vehicle-mounted control device, and more particularly to a verification device and vehicle-mounted control device that are used to perform assertion-based verification (ABV) of state transition caused by control software, which is sequentially executed by a microcomputer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it is demanded that in-vehicle control software exhibit enhanced operation reliability due to an increased use of electronic machine parts. It goes without saying that the required level for software functional accuracy and the design level for design system strictness are raised in accordance with the above demand.
In particular, the design of state transition within a control algorithm is a problem. A state transition design must be made so that an external phenomenon is flexibly coped with in relation to an event generated by a system. This is a great advantage provided when electronic parts are used for the control of vehicle-mounted functional members, and serves as a key factor for meeting the requirements for control enhancement and refinement. Further, considerable attention is paid to control algorithm reliability from a viewpoint of safety. Electronic hardware and control software can be effectively used to make a valuable contribution to the field of functional safety.
As the number of vehicle-mounted electronic parts increases, it would be increasingly important that proper implementation of the required level and design level be verified.
A design phase for vehicle-mounted electronic parts, particularly, an activity for creating control software for operating an embedded microcomputer, is characterized by the fact that a so-called state machine is designed with attention paid to an internal state definition related to system behavior, a state transition condition (event), and an action taken upon state transition.
A currently employed common method for enhancing the quality and reliability of the control software is to create the software by considering all possible internal state definitions and transition conditions. If the encountered combination of an internal state and a transition condition is undefined or unexpected, a software automatic generation technology that is based on a state transition table and disclosed, for instance, by JP-A-2006-12017 automatically inserts an exception process or the like to enhance the stability of the control software.
The software automatic generation technology mentioned above is counted as an advance design technology that clarifies all possible conditions prior to the software design, takes all the clarified conditions into consideration, and improves the robustness of software.